The present invention is adaptable for use in the separation and ultimate recovery of polar hydrocarbons from non-polar hydrocarbons, which separation is effected through the use of a polar solvent characteristically selective for absorbing polar hydrocarbons. Polar hydrocarbons are selectively absorbed relative to non-polar hydrocarbons by a polar solvent via electrostatic forces, for example naphthenes are selectively absorbed relative to paraffins or aromatics are selectively absorbed relative to naphthenes or paraffins. More specifically, the invention is directed toward the regeneration and recovery of the solvent utilized to extract aromatic hydrocarbons from various mixtures thereof with non-aromatic hydrocarbons. In this application, the separation process serves to segregate particular aromatic hydrocarbons such as benzene, toluene and/or C8-aromatics from other hydrocarbons normally contained in the same boiling range of petroleum fractions and process.